A "Fuming" John Kerry

April 23, 2005 -- WASHINGTON ?-

A fuming John Kerry had "daggers in his eyes" after a fellow Democrat promoted Hillary Rodham Clinton for president ?- suggesting the 2004 loser is green with envy at a potential rival. The flap was touched off two weeks ago when Clinton spoke at a Minneapolis Democratic dinner and Sen. Mark Dayton (D-Minn.) told the cheering crowd that he was introducing "the next great president of the United States."

Two days later, Kerry came over to Dayton on the Senate floor "with daggers in his eyes and said, 'What are you doing endorsing my 2008 presidential opponent?' . . . He was very serious," Dayton told the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Clinton's office declined comment but a friend tut-tutted: "Boys will be boys, even when they are senators."

Kerry spokesman David Wade tried to make light of the story, claiming "some lines must have gotten crossed in his retelling of this particular conversation" ?- and insisted they were mostly "joshing" about hockey.

But Dayton's office says the "daggers in his eyes" report was accurate and Dayton has no quarrel with it.

At the April 9 Minnesota dinner, Dayton made it clear that touting Clinton for president was his own idea, saying it was an "unauthorized" introduction ?- but she did nothing to dispute it.

Dayton was also quoted as offering a blunt explanation ?- not very flattering to Kerry ?- about why he favors Clinton for 2008 after backing Kerry last year: "As Winston Churchill once said, I'd rather be right than consistent."

Kerry, who will visit Minnesota on May 3, has left little doubt that he yearns to run for president again in 2008, but trails Clinton in every poll of Democratic preference by margins approaching 2-1.

A Marist College poll in February asked Americans who would get their vote if the 2008 primary were being held today. Thirty-nine percent said Sen. Clinton and only 21 percent said Kerry.

In Minnesota, Clinton thrilled Democrats with her red-meat speech, accusing President Bush of ushering in "a brave new world of extremism

She painted Republican lawmakers as "extras in the movie 'I, Robot' " and said Bush's call for an "ownership society" amounts to trying to turn America into a "you're-on-your-own society."

Clinton's fiery speech contrasted with her recent highly publicized moves to the center.

Meanwhile, Kerry ?- and his outspoken wife Teresa Heinz Kerry ?- are increasingly claiming he was robbed last November and should have won.

http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/45050.htm

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(He was in Vietnam, you know).